As a mother of a former preschooler, I have great compassion for those of you going through the process of selecting a preschool. Hopefully I can provide some helpful resources for you. The first thing I'd like to share is a compilation of writing about the importance of play, especially in preschool situations.
The Case for Play and Problem Solving
in Early Childhood Classrooms – Some snippets from the web
“On the other hand, a child is more likely to have better mental
health, stronger relationships, and more success in school and work if he has many chances to strengthen his social
competence by playing, talking, working out disagreements, and collaborating
with peers and adults.
Much research suggests that pretend play can contribute to young
children’s social and intellectual development. When children pretend to be
someone or something else, they practice taking points of view other than their
own. When they pretend together, children often take turns and make “deals” and
decisions cooperatively. Such findings suggest that children in early childhood
programs ought to have regular opportunities for social play and pretend play.
Teachers can observe and monitor the children’s interactions.”
http://www.casel.org/
“One of the risk factors for not having a successful transition
to kindergarten is the characteristics of
kindergarten and first grade classes (e.g., large class sizes, fewer
parent-teacher meetings can make the transition more difficult). Emotional and
social competency can be defined and measured. For example, a description of a
socially and emotionally healthy child, ready
for kindergarten, could be a child who is confident, friendly,
has good peer relationships, tackles and
persists at challenging tasks, has good language development, can communicate
well, listens to instructions, and is attentive.”
“It turns out that all that time spent playing make-believe
actually helped children develop a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function
has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to
self-regulate. Kids with good self-regulation are able to control their
emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline.
Poor executive function is associated with high dropout rates,
drug use and crime. In fact, good executive
function is a better predictor of success in school than a child's IQ. Children who are able to manage their
feelings and pay attention are better able to learn. As executive function
researcher Laura Berk explains, "Self-regulation predicts effective
development in virtually every domain."
According to Berk,
one reason make-believe is such a powerful tool for building self-discipline is
because during make-believe, children engage in what's called private speech:
They talk to themselves about what they are going to do and how they are going
to do it.
"In fact, if
we compare preschoolers' activities and the amount of private speech that
occurs across them, we find that this self-regulating language is highest
during make-believe play," Berk says. "And this type of self-regulating
language... has been shown in many studies to be predictive of executive
functions."
And it's not just
children who use private speech to control themselves. If we look at adult use
of private speech, Berk says, "we're often using it to surmount obstacles,
to master cognitive and social skills, and to manage our emotions."
Unfortunately, the more structured the play, the more
children's private speech declines. Essentially, because children's play is
so focused on lessons and leagues, and because kids' toys increasingly inhibit
imaginative play, kids aren't getting a chance to practice policing themselves.
When they have that opportunity, says Berk, the results are clear:
Self-regulation improves.
"One index
that researchers, including myself, have used... is the extent to which a
child, for example, cleans up independently after a free-choice period in
preschool," Berk says. "We find that children who are most effective
at complex make-believe play take on that responsibility with... greater
willingness, and even will assist others in doing so without teacher
prompting."
Despite the
evidence of the benefits of imaginative play, however, even in the context of
preschool young children's play is in decline. According to Yale psychological
researcher Dorothy Singer, teachers and school administrators just don't see
the value.
"Because of
the testing, and the emphasis now that you have to really pass these tests,
teachers are starting earlier and earlier to drill the kids in their basic
fundamentals. Play is viewed as unnecessary, a waste of time," Singer
says. "I have so many articles that
have documented the shortening of free play for children, where the teachers in
these schools are using the time for cognitive skills."
It seems that in
the rush to give children every advantage — to protect them, to stimulate them,
to enrich them — our culture has unwittingly compromised one of the activities
that helped children most. All that wasted time was not such a waste after all.
THE BENEFITS OF
PLAY
Play allows
children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity,
and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. Play is important to healthy
brain development.
It is through play
that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them.
Play allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering
their fears while practicing adult roles, sometimes in conjunction with other
children or adult caregivers.
As they master
their world, play helps children develop new competencies that lead to enhanced
confidence and the resiliency they will need to face future challenges.
Undirected play
allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to
resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills.
When play is
allowed to be child driven, children practice decision-making skills, move at
their own pace, discover their own areas of interest, and ultimately engage
fully in the passions they wish to pursue.
Ideally, much of
play involves adults, but when play is controlled by adults, children acquiesce
to adult rules and concerns and lose some of the benefits play offers them,
particularly in developing creativity, leadership, and group skills.
In contrast to passive
entertainment, play builds active, healthy bodies. In fact, it has been
suggested that encouraging unstructured play may be an exceptional way to
increase physical activity levels in children, which is one important strategy
in the resolution of the obesity epidemic.
Perhaps above all,
play is a simple joy that is a cherished part of childhood.
Children’s
developmental trajectory is critically mediated by appropriate, affective
relationships with loving and consistent caregivers as they relate to children through
play. When parents observe their children in play or join with them in
child-driven play, they are given a unique opportunity to see the world from
their child’s vantage point as the child navigates a world perfectly created
just to fit his or her needs. (The word “parent” is used in this report to
represent the wide range of adult caregivers who raise children.) The
interactions that occur through play tell children that parents are fully
paying attention to them and help to build enduring relationships.
Parents who have
the opportunity to glimpse into their children’s world learn to communicate
more effectively with their children and are given another setting to offer
gentle, nurturing guidance. Less verbal children may be able to express their views,
experiences, and even frustrations through play, allowing their parents an
opportunity to gain a fuller understanding of their perspective. Quite simply,
play offers parents a wonderful opportunity to engage fully with their
children.
Play is integral to
the academic environment. It ensures that the school setting attends to the
social and emotional development of children as well as their cognitive
development. It has been shown to help children adjust to the school setting
and even to enhance children’s learning readiness, learning behaviors, and problem-solving skills.
Social-emotional
learning is best integrated with academic learning; it is concerning if some of the forces that enhance children’s ability
to learn are elevated at the expense of others. Play and unscheduled time
that allow for peer interactions are important components of social-emotional
learning.
